Anil Ambani’s big company Reliance Naval and Engineering Limited, which is deeply in debt, has now become someone else’s. Mumbai-based industrialist Nikhil V. The merchant has bought Reliance Naval and Engineering Ltd., making the highest bid. Anil Ambani’s company RNEL was originally known as Pipavav Shipyard. On Monday, Hazel Mercantile Pvt Ltd, a consortium backed by Nikhil Merchant and his associate, made the highest bid in the third round and won the bid.
The committee last month initiated talks with companies participating in the auction process and sought higher bids, following which Hazel Mercantile increased its bid for the shipyard from Rs 2,400 crore to Rs 2,700 crore.
IDBI Bank (IDBI) is the lead bank of Reliance Naval led by a consortium of banks that extended loans to Reliance Naval and Engineering Limited. IDBI Bank had filed a case in the Ahmedabad branch of the National Company Law Tribunal last year for recovery of debt from the company. Through this case, IDBI Bank wanted to recover Rs 12,429 crore from the company. State Bank of India has a debt of Rs 1,965 crore on RNL’s 10 biggest borrowers, while Union Bank of India has a debt of about Rs 1,555 crore.
Let us tell you that out of the three companies that had bid for Anil Ambani’s company, one was a Dubai-based NRI-backed company which offered only Rs 100 crore. Businessman Naveen Jindal’s company had made a second bid of Rs 500 crore.
It is noteworthy that the first name of RNEL was Reliance Defense and Engineering Limited. Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group acquired Pipavav Defense and Offshore Engineering Ltd in 2015. Later its name was changed to Reliance Naval and Engineering Limited (RNEL).